The Dirty “Baker’s” Dozen

The Dirty Dozen are the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and the ones you should buy organic if you can. These fruits and vegetables have more pesticide residues than other produce. I provided a list of the Dirty Dozen foods at the bottom of the page for an easy reference while you are shopping. I added blueberries to the list to make it a Baker’s Dozen.

I do use a fruit and vegetable spray called Fruit & Veggie Clean which “rinses clean and is proven to remove surface pesticides, waxes, and chemicals.” I still buy organic fruits and vegetables even with the spray because I worry about how many pesticides are absorbed into the fruit and cannot be rinsed clean.

EWG has a great site on the Dirty Dozen foods and states why some of the fruits and vegetables are on the top 12 list. They believe blueberries/raspberries should be on the list instead of Cherries. I usually buy all berries organic since we eat so many of them. They are a favorite snack in our house.

The Dirty Dozen?

Every sample of imported nectarines tested positive for pesticides, followed by apples (97.8 percent) and imported plums (97.2 percent).

92 percent of apples contained 2 or more pesticide residues? followed by imported nectarines (90.8 percent) and peaches (85.6 percent).

Imported grapes had 14 pesticides detected on a single sample. Strawberries, domestic grapes both had 13 different pesticides detected on a single sample.

As a category. peaches have been treated with more pesticides than any other produce, registering combinations of up to 57 different chemicals. Apples were next, with 56 pesticides and raspberries with 51.